


Star Struck

by izadreamer



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, ladrien, why we have four different ship names for the same people is beyond me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-26
Updated: 2015-11-26
Packaged: 2018-05-03 12:27:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5290778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izadreamer/pseuds/izadreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien gets himself saved by Ladybug. Which wouldn’t be anything new, except he’s <em>Adrien</em> getting saved by <em>Ladybug</em>, and that’s just all kinds of awkward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Star Struck

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write something with a little grit and blood but I also wanted something borderline cute so I present to you Adrien, the lovesick idiot with the worst luck ever.

Adrien is going to die.

It’s not even going to be a cool death, like the ones he has always sort of imagined him having, with explosions and dramatic sacrifices. He isn’t saving some random civilian or his Lady—he’s not even Chat Noir at the moment! How lame is _that_?—and it’s not even from being targeted, or fighting, or anything remotely understandable and properly mourn-worthy.

Adrien is going to die and it’s going to be _stupid,_ because he didn’t look to see where he was going and the akuma had been _right there,_ hanging from the balcony with a wicked smile _._ In the heat of the moment he’d forgotten he wasn’t Chat Noir and he had slipped, because of _course_ he did, and now he’s falling from the twelfth story window of a twenty story building.

He thinks he should be screaming, but his mind is a million miles away, and the wind steals any sound before he can make it. His arms are flailing, and he thinks to himself _Transform, I need to transform,_ but the ground is fast approaching and oh, he’s screwed.

He closes his eyes because he doesn’t want to see this, even if soon he won’t be seeing much of anything. They snap open again a moment later when something bony and sharp and very much _human_ crashes into him, an arm wrapped firmly around his waist and fingers digging tight into his skin to keep him from slipping.

Something zips through the air, and the sound is familiar, though he can’t quite place it. The world is rushing by, a blur of reds and grays, and the next thing he knows he’s tumbling across the roof of another building. He skids to a stop painfully, his arms aching and his cheek throbbing, hearing his savoir wheeze and cough beside him.

Adrien coughs as well, struggling to regain his breath. His mouth is filled with the bitter taste of copper—he must have bit his cheek sometime during the fall. He spits out a glob of blood with a grimace, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He feels rattled and shaken, and he knows that later he’s going to freak out over this, this near-death experience or whatever.

“Are you okay?”

He freezes, his heart crawling up into his throat, looking up with wide eyes. Ladybug crouches beside him, her eyes worried, lips pursed and expression fearful. The afternoon sun shines in her dark hair and Adrien wants to sink through the floor and disappear because _oh god Ladybug just saved my life._

“Fine,” he says, his voice a strangled squeak, and he flushes, coughing hard. He swallows back the blood in his mouth, wincing at the sensation, and tries again. “Fine! Just fine, um, thanks. Uh, you?”

He probably looks like an idiot, he thinks to himself, and feels like he’s dying all over again. Of embarrassment, this time. What else could this sinking feeling and strangled tension in his throat be, if not his own body trying to murder him for looking bad in front of his Lady?

Ladybugs smiles— _beams_ , really, and the sight nearly bowls him over—and holds out a hand to help him up, her cheeks flushed from the wind and blue eyes glittering like the sea.

“I’m just fine,” she says, assuring and kind, and her smile still lingers. He takes her hand shyly and isn’t surprised when she easily hefts him to his feet. Her gloved hand is warm, the fabric of her suit soft and silky against his wind-beaten skin.

Adrien is both captivated and suddenly hyper aware of his every action. Ladybug has no idea who he is, and the thought is terrifying. As Chat, he can be whoever he wants to be, but Adrien Agreste has rules and regulations and enough masks to last a lifetime, and so he fumbles with his words, caught between his usual composure and his instinctual reaction to her as Chat Noir.

“Good,” he says, and tries to squash the feeling of disappointment when she gently takes her hand back, trying for a flirty smile and ending up with something shaky and thin. He feels naked without the real mask on his face, all edges and sharp corners and no smoothness to be found.

“Good,” she repeats back, laughing softly. He wonders if it’s his imagination but her cheeks seem flushed in the light, and her eyes seem to be lingering on his face, though it could just be her checking if he’s still hurt.

A loud boom echoes behind them and the screaming starts again. Smoke is rising up into the air, dark and thick like smog. Adrien can hear sirens screaming in the distance, and feels his heart sink when he sees the flashes of flame in the distance. This battle won’t be an easy one.

Ladybug hears it as well and grimaces, scowling harshly as her eyes roam the horizon for her target. He knows when she finds them for her eyes light up and she smirks thinly, and then she’s turning back to him with an apologetic look in her eyes, and a fair bit of reluctance in her stance.

“I have to go,” she says, waving a nervous hand over her shoulder. “Um—stay safe, yeah? And—" her eyes flicker to the blood he’d spat out earlier and worry flashes across her face again. “Get that looked at, if you can.”

He nods a bit dazedly. “Um, yeah. Okay.”

She smiles again and he’s startled by how different it is to the ones he usually sees as Chat—soft and sweet with just an edge of uncertainty, and a hesitance he has never seen on her before but seems strangely familiar.

Ladybug turns to go, waving shyly, and he barely has the presence of mind to wave back before she’s leaping off towards the carnage and destruction, her eyes as cold and hard as steel as she prepares herself for this next battle.

He waits until she’s out of sight and then walks slowly to the doors, barely noticing Plagg tugging on his clothes until the kwami snaps, “Hey! Are you going to help her or not?”

“Oh,” Adrien says, and pauses. His urgency is fading, a thought worrying at his mind. “Um, Plagg—did Ladybug seem different to you? I mean…”

Plagg sighs heavily, rolling in the air with his eyes unfocused. He’s probably dreaming of all the cheese he could be having instead of participating in this conversation, and Adrien almost thinks he won’t be answered, but for once Plagg surprises him.

“So you don’t know her as well as you thought,” the kwami says lazily, but his eyes are sharp and piercing. “It’s not like she recognized you, now did she? People have so many layers… it’s annoying. Cheese is much simpler!”

“Yeah,” Adrien agrees, and though he still feels a bit disheartened for whatever reason, he feels a bit better, too. “Thanks, Plagg.”

He calls Plagg to the ring and stretches lazily as the suit settles around him. It’s tight and warm against his skin, but as always the weight is a comforting one. Chat Noir is everything Adrien Agreste always wanted to be, confident and loud and free. Being him has never been a burden, only an opportunity.

He knows he’ll have to meet up with his Lady soon, and he knows when he does he’ll act as he usually does, with bad jokes and smooth flirtation and the grace of battle settling on his shoulders. She’ll gripe at him and roll her eyes, but the fondness will linger, and he’ll know she doesn’t really mean it.

He won’t tell her about this conversation, won’t even hint to it—but he’s almost looking forward to seeing how this new piece of her fits in with rest.

 

 


End file.
